The Kunwarara Mine is a large magnesite mining operation located about 60 km north-west of Rockhampton in Central Queensland. The mine is operated by Queensland Magnesia (QMAG) and forms part of one of the world’s largest deposits of cryptocrystalline magnesite (magnesium carbonate), a key raw material used to produce magnesia products for industrial applications.

The deposit extends across a broad sedimentary basin where magnesite occurs as nodules within sandstone, siltstone and clay layers beneath relatively shallow overburden. This geological setting allows the ore to be mined efficiently using open-cut methods. Mining operations at Kunwarara began in the early 1990s following discovery of the deposit in the mid-1980s, and the site has since become the main source of magnesite production in Queensland.

At the mine, magnesite ore is extracted, screened and washed before being transported to QMAG’s processing facility at Parkhurst near Rockhampton. There it is refined into various magnesia products used in steelmaking refractories, environmental treatment, agriculture and chemical processing.

The Kunwarara operation produces several million tonnes of ore annually and plays an important role in supplying high-grade magnesia to both domestic and international markets.